----< The Amazing Little Poll >------------
1. About
2. Version History
3. Requirements
4. Setup
----< About >------------------------------
The Amazing Little Poll v1.3 is a very
simple php Poll application. It uses a flat
file to store voting scores. It's very easy
to set up, and easy to customize.
Version 1.3 also stores all events in a log
file, lp_log.dat
The Amazing Little Poll can be freely
distributed, manipulated, stolen, abused,
used for any kind of activities
In case of any problems with the original
code, I'll be glad to help out. Mail
to: hide@address.com
Any suggestions for improvement are also
always very welcome!
I can not be held responsible or liable for
anything.
Homepage of LittlePoll:
http://www.mr-corner.com/LittlePoll/index.html
----< Version history >--------------------
v1.3: Security is improved, events are
logged in lp_log.dat. Somewhat nicer
programmed so it works better with
recent versions of PHP.
v1.2: The users can now vote again when the
poll has changed.
v1.1: Added Number of votes
All source in one include file
Question can be added via admin
center
v1.0: First published version of The
Amazing Little Poll!
v0.1: First working version... some things
need work.
----< Requirements >-----------------------
Besides the REALLY obvious:
A php-enabled webserver, and access to it
to set a file's attibutes.
----< Setup >------------------------------
***** Step 1: Files ***********************
Copy the following files to your home
directory on the webserver:
- lp_settings.inc
- lp_source.php
- lp_admin.php
- lp_test.php
- lp_silly.php
- lp_recookie.php
- lplist.txt
- lp_log.dat
- lp_0.gif
- lp_1.gif
***** Step 2: Attributes ******************
Set the attributes of the file "lplist.txt"
and "lp_log.dat" to 666 - meaning read and
write access for all parties.
***** Step 3: Set-up **********************
Open lp_admin.php in your browser, and set
up your poll. (Initial password =
"elephant")
***** Step 4: Testing *********************
Test your poll using the Amazing Little Poll
Test Facility.
***** Step 5: Implementation 1 ************
Now that the poll itself is working, it's
time to implement it into your site. Paste
the following code above the <html> tag in
your site (so really above everything else):
<?php include("lp_source.php"); ?>
(if you get an error message like "cannot
add header information, headers already
sent by...", then please make sure that the
<?php tag is really at the beginning of the
file)
***** Step 6: Implementation 2 ************
Where you want the poll to be in your page,
add the following lines of code:
<?php if($votingstep==1) { echo($step1str); }
if($votingstep==2) { echo($step2str); }
if($votingstep==3) { echo($step3str); }
?>
Where you want the question to be in the
page, add the following line of code:
<?php echo($question); ?>
If you want to show the total number
of votes, add the following line:
<?php echo($totalvotes); ?>
***** Step 7: Implementation 3 ************
You can add a 'dynamic' title for the Poll,
which reads something like "your votes
please" or "thanks for your vote",
according to the situation. Put the
following code where you want the title to
be:
<?php echo($mainstr); ?>
***** Step 8: Customizing 1 ***************
Open the file 'lp_settings.inc' in a text
editor and set it up according to your
wishes.
IMPORTANT: make sure you set the filename
of your page (for example, index.php)
correctly!
IMPORTANT: change the initial admincenter
password for better security!
***** Step 9: Customizing 2 ***************
The graph is drawn using two little .gif
files. They should be 1 pixel in width. You
can change them to change the appearance of
the graphs.
***** Step 10: Customizing 3 **************
You can change the style of the vote button
to fit the style of your page. To do this,
enter the CSS code in the $buttonstyle
variable in lp_settings.inc. For
example, to get a black button with a white
border and white text:
$buttonstyle="border:1px solid white;
background:black;color:white;";
For more information on CSS (cascading style
sheets), visit www.webmonkey.com
***** Step 11: Logging ********************
Open lp_log.dat to get an overview of
events of the poll, when a new one was
created, hack attempts, votings, etc.
*******************************************